The elite strike team was walking through a large hallway of the Doge’s palace.

The bustling hallways were empty, and the guards were nowhere to be seen.

Nobody appeared in the hallways. Nobody tried to stop us. Nobody fought us.

We let our guard down. Even the elite bodyguards of Alba had their rifles shouldered.

“Why is nobody expecting a fight?” I finally broke the silence.

“That monster is the only problem we may encounter.” Alba looked around, and whistled.

Nobody answered.

‘Even she is not here?’ (A)

We approached the large oak door. The soldiers piled up at the walls, and prepared to breach.

My crew drew their swords, and Emmanuel cocked the revolver.

A soldier glanced at Alba, and they exchanged nods.

The woman carelessly approached the door, and opened it.

“GO! GO! GO!” The soldiers pushed in with their guns at ready.

Only then we noticed that the room is empty.

The only thing that stood out was a large golden box near the desk.

“What the hell? That man would never…” Alba fumed, and walked to the desk. When she was near the box, she looked at it for a moment, before staggering.

“What? What happened?” Patricia rushed to her side. When the girl looked at the box, she fell on her knees.

Now it was my turn to approach.

“Holy…!” It was not something I expected.

Inside of the box was an embalmed body. It was the Doge.

[I perfectly remember how he looked during our past meeting, and I swear, his body looks like he is just asleep.

Though I doubt that he would be sleeping here, like a vampire…]

“Father!” Patricia wept.

I gestured to Yuriko and Emmanuel, and they dragged the aghast mother and daughter.

---

After a quick look I saw that the box can be easily opened. I sat in front of Alba and Patricia to ask them.

“Can we open that thing…?”

“Yes, please do. Sweety, is it alright?” Alba hugged the shivering girl.

After Patricia nodded, I opened the box and put the body on the floor.

“I am not a doctor but I am sure he didn’t die today.” Unlike the others, my nose picked up a chemical smell. A signal that the body was meticulously preserved.

When I unbuttoned the clothes of the corpse, I saw a small hole in its chest.

I signaled Yuriko to approach.

‘Is that what I think it is?’

‘No doubt. It is the same weapon.’ (Y)

“Tell us.” Alba already recovered but still didn’t dare to approach.

“He was killed with a rapier.”

“Who would have thought.” (A)

“Mother…?” (P)

“Well he called it upon himself, by himself. I had said ‘let’s drown that b*’. Where is your ‘useful girl’ now? Was it even worth it…?” Alba approached a cupboard, and without a moment of hesitation pulled out a tablecloth. She covered the body, and sat at the desk.

“I will look through the documents here, can I ask you [soldiers] to remove the body? You, take Patricia somewhere else. This place is the last I would want to see her be.” Alba started pulling papers out of cabinets and sorting them.

---

Patricia and I started wandering around the palace.

The girl calmed down a bit, and stopped shivering.

“Would she really do this…?”

“Who…?” (P)

“Would Veronica kill him…?”

“… I don’t know…” (P)

Patricia suddenly stopped, and approached an inconspicuous door.

‘Creak’

The door easily opened, and we entered a dark room.

I used searchlights to light up the room.

It was a bedroom. All furniture was covered with cloth. Everywhere around the room were scattered toys. Dried withered flowers were standing in vases. Paintings on the walls were completely covered in dust.

Patricia wandered around the room for a while, before leaving. I stayed for a moment. I swept away dust from the paintings. Curiosity kills the catgirl, and stuff.

Aside from some generic pictures of nature, and some portraits of family members (?) I found nothing.

When I was leaving, I saw a small frame lying in a corner. I picked it up and cleared away the dust.

There was a small painting of two little girls. They were suspiciously similar to Patricia and Veronica. With one slight difference: they were happily hugging each other and smiling.

I took the painting with me, and hurried after Patricia.

The girl was waiting for me outside the room.

“Let’s go. This place gives me goosebumps…” The girl tugged me away.

---

After we made a circle around the palace, we returned to the office. When we entered, Alba beckoned us to come closer.

“What is it?”

“Just read it.” She gave me a small piece of paper.

There was written: ‘See you in the port’.